People

Narrow escapes for rock stars: first
Carl Pemberton, of Journey South, got stuck in a ford near Middlesbrough. The river poured into his Astra Twin Top, but he managed to crawl out. Meanwhile, Kaiser Chiefs' singer
Ricky Wilson used his trademark jump to flip himself on to the bonnet of a car at a pedestrian crossing in Leeds. He broke a toe - shades of his less well-timed jump on stage in Seattle last year when he ended up in plaster after ripping his tendons in a bad landing.

It is a long overdue honour for James Peek and George Hender Frean: a blue plaque is going up on the London factory where they invented the squashed fly biscuit and Twiglet. The sweet-smelling works, which stored summer-made Christmas puds in arches under the London Bridge railway line, was the winner in a "people's vote for plaques" organised by Southwark council's Victoria Obeng-Asamoah, deputy chair of the South Bermondsey Partnership, and Howard Barnes, head of culture.

It won't make Hansard but microphones picked up this week's best parliamentary question. Leyton and Wanstead's Labour MP, Harry Cohen, cursed with a thick cold, asked his neighbour, Frank Cook, during the armed forces debate: "Is there really an aerosol brigade?" No. Graffiti remains an untried weapon. Liberal Democrat MP Bob Russell was talking about air assault. The Lib Dems memorably applied for "extra secret aerial help" in the days of Jo Grimond. They meant secretaries.

Welcome to the world Bluebell Madonna, bouncing newborn daughter of Geri Halliwell and Hollywood scriptwriter Sacha Gervasi (though the latter goes unmentioned in a 19-page special for Hello!). Geri says she was struck by the season's drifts of blue flowers, and her grandmother was a trouper with the Parisian Bluebells. The young one rates well on the list of unusual celebrity child names, but Frank Zappa's daughter Moon Unit surely retains the crown. Moon's own daughter is called Mathilda Plum and has an Uncle Dweezil, Zappa's son and heavy metal guitarist.

Corpus Christi has picked Sir Alan Wilson as head of house to replace Haroon Ahmed, who leaves the Cambridge college in September. Sir Alan, who left school at 14, was a Corpus student, made his name as vice-chancellor of Leeds University, and co-founded the consumer behaviour modelling firm GMAP. He sold his stake for a reputed £1m to US buyers.